ASA July lines...

[enuffalready]

See what I mean.....

"Back in the old days." And "uphill both ways in the snow." And "we didn't have toilet paper, so we used tiny sheets of medium-density particle board to wipe," and such-and-so.....

-Joe is all about Joe.

beauty of age, wisdom and experience is that those of us beginning to get all three, realize that what others use to tell us about 'uphill both ways, in the snow', were right. As you get older, young luke, you realize that the advice that those who had already been there, that we ignored during our youth, was actually right all along.

 

[Abernathy]

About 2 years under far worse scheduling rules and a ruthless head of scheduling....Erion....Most of you wouldn't have lasted under those conditions. You do realize that back then, being on call was considered "rest" don't you?

Simply put, the rules for reserves are far better than they have ever been. The company is far more reasonable than they have ever been. The schedulers are far nicer than they were in the past. In addition, stagnation isn't something new...It has happened before. This is the third downturn I have seen.

Joe the reason I asked is that a lot of guys at ASA who were hired during the "old days" never spent time on reserve and are out of touch with the reality of how it works. You're probably right, the rules were probably a lot worse 10-15 years ago. However, that doesn't mean that there are things going on at the moment that are seriously questionable. Throwing scheduled 8 hour overnights on reserves and extending them the following day, in my opinion, is pretty sick.

Another question for you: when you were on reserve however many years ago, did you typically fly every single on call day and get extended beyond 14 hours due to "operational delay"? Reserves are basically line pilots right now but without an actual schedule and only making about guarantee. I'm asking because I'm trying to gauge where it is you are coming from.

And for what it's worth, our current union respresentation is so soft they should be wearing pink slippers and carrying purses.

 

[CFI2766]

LOL. I laugh when people say this as a way to demean the senior guys. Some of those guys have a net worth of 1 million plus. I don't know what you're trying to make fun of but it's certainly not their pocketbook.

Uhhhhm, psst: $1 million is not that much when considering a 'net worth'...

Especially not for a 'professional.'

Just sayin'.

 

[anon]

how about the ability to access $1M out of your available cash in savings and investment accounts?

 

[777forever]

Joe the reason I asked is that a lot of guys at ASA who were hired during the "old days" never spent time on reserve and are out of touch with the reality of how it works. You're probably right, the rules were probably a lot worse 10-15 years ago. However, that doesn't mean that there are things going on at the moment that are seriously questionable. Throwing scheduled 8 hour overnights on reserves and extending them the following day, in my opinion, is pretty sick.

Another question for you: when you were on reserve however many years ago, did you typically fly every single on call day and get extended beyond 14 hours due to "operational delay"? Reserves are basically line pilots right now but without an actual schedule and only making about guarantee. I'm asking because I'm trying to gauge where it is you are coming from.

And for what it's worth, our current union respresentation is so soft they should be wearing pink slippers and carrying purses.

You lost everyone when you said only crediting guarantee. You guys are crediting 90+hrs. If you're flying everyday on call like you complaining about there is no way you are making only guarantee. Only people making guarantee these days are the poor s.o.b.'s on reserve in IAD. We are commuting and making at least $1000 less per month.

You guys really need to sit in our shoes for a month here in Dulles. You find your whining less.

 

[buscap]

You lost everyone when you said only crediting guarantee. You guys are crediting 90+hrs. If you're flying everyday on call like you complaining about there is no way you are making only guarantee. Only people making guarantee these days are the poor s.o.b.'s on reserve in IAD. We are commuting and making at least $1000 less per month.

You guys really need to sit in our shoes for a month here in Dulles. You find your whining less.

Yep.

I just threw up in my mouth.

Anyone else?

 

[ohplease!]

Uhhhhm, psst: $1 million is not that much when considering a 'net worth'...

Especially not for a 'professional.'

Just sayin'.

obviously yours is much higher, huh?

 

[wms]

Give me a break. There are 10's of thousands of airline pilots and 10's of thousands of sob stories. We all have had our various struggles.

Some of the ASA pilots on here need to stop whining and go wax their bikini lines. BROTHER!

 

[Abernathy]

You lost everyone when you said only crediting guarantee. You guys are crediting 90+hrs. If you're flying everyday on call like you complaining about there is no way you are making only guarantee. Only people making guarantee these days are the poor s.o.b.'s on reserve in IAD. We are commuting and making at least $1000 less per month.

You guys really need to sit in our shoes for a month here in Dulles. You find your whining less.

Last month we had several 80+ hour guarantees but I don't recall seeing any significant number of 90+ hours--maybe the long call guys or the short call/call me first types. And last month was the heaviest I've ever seen. Prior to that, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but 90+ hours was quite rare. 75-78 was much more common. I saw just one 100+ last month.

So when you say "you guys are crediting 90+ hrs," I really don't know who you are referring to. Breaking guarantee in any significant way is much less common than you appear to think it is. Working up to guarantee is more the trend down here.

 

[JoeMerchant]

Joe the reason I asked is that a lot of guys at ASA who were hired during the "old days" never spent time on reserve and are out of touch with the reality of how it works. You're probably right, the rules were probably a lot worse 10-15 years ago. However, that doesn't mean that there are things going on at the moment that are seriously questionable. Throwing scheduled 8 hour overnights on reserves and extending them the following day, in my opinion, is pretty sick.

Another question for you: when you were on reserve however many years ago, did you typically fly every single on call day and get extended beyond 14 hours due to "operational delay"? Reserves are basically line pilots right now but without an actual schedule and only making about guarantee. I'm asking because I'm trying to gauge where it is you are coming from.

Bandit reserve I flew most days on reserve. 10 days off, and fly most of the rest. 1 hour callout, and plenty of 12 hour days hand flying 7 legs. ATR FO reserve in DFW, flew most days on reserve. ATR FO reserve in ATL hardly flew at all because there were 4 airplanes in ATL with 4 of us on reserve. ATR capt. reserve, flew most days. Duty time didn't count until you actually got a trip. Worst of all, Erion the terror controlled your life.

I've kept all my old paysheets, and I came across some nap line months in DFW where I flew 80 hours for the month doing naps. We did 4 in a row, and they were always frontloaded with a roundtrip before you left for the 5 hour on the ground nap.

I don't bring this up to play the old "uphill both ways in the snow" argument, but rather to put things in persepective when you and others say that us senior folks don't understand. IMO, it is easier now than it was for many reasons. I didn't say easy....rather easier. It is still hard to be on reserve....but it used to be even harder.

Something to think about.....When I was hired, my seniority number was 637. Now it is 190. If we hadn't grown, then after 16 years, I would be a junior capt.....However, we have roughly tripled in size, and therefor I am a senior capt, rather than a junior capt. I credit my QOL of improvements to be about 70% due to becoming senior, and about 30% due to improvements in the contract. IMO, the growth made more of a difference in my QOL than the contract improvements.

This business is kinda like a giant pyramid scheme....It's great as long as you move up the pyramid and build a larger base...It's not so great if you are at the bottom of the pyramid. Times of growth here have always been a bit painful....even more painful back in the Erion days. However in the end, the growth is better than shrinking. IMO, we are very lucky to be growing in this environment.

That's were I am coming from....